The Wife

Pickthall, Marjorie (1883 - 1922)

Original Text

Marjorie L. C. Pickthall, The Wood Carver's Wife (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1922): 39-40. PS 8531 I35W6 1922 Robarts Library.

1Living, I had no might

2To make you hear,

3Now, in the inmost night,

4I am so near

5No whisper, falling light,

6Divides us, dear.

7Living, I had no claim

8On your great hours.

9Now the thin candle-flame,

10The closing flowers,

11Wed summer with my name, --

12And these are ours.

13Your shadow on the dust,

14Strength, and a cry,

15Delight, despair, mistrust, --

16All these am I.

17Dawn, and the far hills thrust

18To a far sky.

19Living, I had no skill

20To stay your tread,

21Now all that was my will

22Silence has said.

23We are one for good and ill

24Since I am dead.

Publication Start Year

1921

Publication Notes

Smart Set (June 1921).

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

RPO 1998.

Rhyme